Google provides https://goo.gl free of charge. As we all know, nothing is ever really free. We are giving them some great traffic information that helps them target things like Google Adwords. I’m slipping a bit on that one. I need to incorporate some Adwords into my web pages and posts. I digress.

Goo.gl provides great feedback. For example, I posted a blog and was surprised to find that I have more clicks in the US than I do in Canada. Almost twice as many! And then Australia and the UK. Another measure that surprised me was how much is on handheld devices. 90% of the clicks were on Facebook Mobile. The rest were on Facebook on desktops. The fact that I published that blog to Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter means that I really need to focus most of my attention on Facebook when I’m blogging. The results are a little different when I’m sharing other content while making my own comments. Still 65% or more on Facebook but there is a greater proportion of “other” that I believe is likely Twitter and other referral sites.

Other LInk Shorteners

There are at least a couple of other options I’m aware of. Hootesuite provides a built in shortener, ow.ly and there is another service called bit.ly. Both provide analytics but you get more with Google for less. Besides, I couldn’t prove it but I would bet that Google ranks their shortened links higher.

So, why do I use goo.gl? Because it’s easy to use and understand. And, it’s affordable.

Make it a great day!

Barry

P.S. What am I thankful for today? I’m thankful for Google Analytics. I’m thankful for Hootsuite. I’m thankful for my Pure Leverage suite of tools! What are you thankful for today?

You should always be testing when working with social media. How else can you tell people are hearing your message?

Testing what?

Today, I want to talk about testing links. First, do they work? Second, do they work?!

First, testing your links to see if they work.

Have you ever had that experience where someone posts about a great subject and when you click the link you get an “HTTP 404 Error”, the browser can’t find the page requested? How frustrating is that?!

If it happens once, you may click another post from that person later but if it happens too often, it’s like the little boy who cried wolf. You won’t believe you can trust them and you won’t “hear” anything they have to say again. You may even choose to “unfriend” that person. Are you testing links before you post on social media? All you have to do is open a fresh tab and paste the link you are posting before you put it in your social media communications. Better it fails you than your “listeners”.

Second, testing links to see if they produce traffic?!

I like using Google’s url shortenerfor this purpose. It’s free and easy to use. There are others with more in depth reporting but that’s for later when you are making enough money to cover your cost. This is a great way to get started. Using Goo.gl, I can tell:

how many clicks;

what type of device;

what operating system;

and what countries the clicks are coming from.

When you go to one of these reports, you can see how well that link is working. If you go to your initial goo.gl login page, you will see your list of links with their history. Compare the number of links and look at the types that are getting the most clicks. You can use to identify what your followers pay attention to.

This isn’t to say you should never make posts that don’t get a lot of traction. You need to be honest with yourself and your audience. Just make sure that you can identify what will get attention faster when you want it. When making posts that get the most attention, you need to take the opportunity to direct your audience’s attention where you want it. Do you have something to offer related to the post? Say so and give the opportunity to go there.

So, what should you be testing? Everything! For today, let’s just focus on testing your links. You might want to check out Pure Leveragefor great marketing tools and to learn more about things like testing conversion rates, colours, etc.

Make it a great day!

Barry

P.S. What am I thankful for today? I’m thankful for great teachers. I’m thankful for patient partners. I’m thankful for every new day.

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Barry Clermont

My mission is to build a legacy for my children and future generations while helping like minded entrepreneurs achieve their goals by providing affordable access to premium Internet marketing services and tools, and referring them to resources and professionals who can help them accelerate their business.